本篇文章是美國哥倫比亞大學(xué)一名大四學(xué)生 Steven Castellano 2013年1月28日在校報(bào)發(fā)表的一篇文章，引起了哥大學(xué)生巨大的共鳴。史蒂夫主修生物物理學(xué)，是哥大學(xué)生事務(wù)代表以及學(xué)生健康項(xiàng)目的決策者之一。譯者翟夢(mèng)琦，哥大和UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School在讀本科留學(xué)生。下面是中文翻譯全文：

每每回想到上學(xué)期的第一個(gè)星期，那些和朋友在一起的美好日子，不管是吃了一頓四個(gè)小時(shí)的晚餐然后沒有目的地閑逛校園，是在中央公園聽我最喜歡的演唱會(huì)，還是一起為了公益在舞蹈馬拉松跳到早上七點(diǎn)，開心總是溢于言表。

可是無論這種滿足感多么真切，在哥大的校園里這種自發(fā)性和開心總是很難延續(xù)很久，因?yàn)橐环N不安感總會(huì)襲來。幾天之后，你就會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)自己又沒有完成按時(shí)完成閱讀、做完習(xí)題。吃飯大多數(shù)時(shí)候只是為填飽肚子，少了和朋友敘舊的晚餐，與之而來的是不盡的壓力。

問題是，我們每時(shí)每刻都在焦慮著。我們大概從高中起就開始做我們力所能及并且舒服范圍之外的事情了。進(jìn)取心或是野心，即使不是我們的天性，在接到一個(gè)名校的錄取通知書的時(shí)候，那種不安感也會(huì)迫使你“用功”：一方面，你不愿辜負(fù)社會(huì)對(duì)你的期望，想要發(fā)揮自己的潛能;另一方面，你知道你的出眾在這個(gè)人才輩出的頂尖名校不過平庸。

所以，你可以明白為什么我們總是過度工作，去參加一些我們?cè)静]有期待的工作和活動(dòng)。最后在過度熬夜、高壓和焦慮中，成為身體上和精神上都最不健康的學(xué)生。我在為“學(xué)生健康項(xiàng)目”擺桌的時(shí)候，很多學(xué)生寫到如果可以把退掉一門課，從而有更多的時(shí)間，他們會(huì)睡覺，會(huì)讀閑書，會(huì)做飯，會(huì)去紐約下城逛逛，會(huì)去見見教授、聊聊天，健身，和朋友一起玩——可是幾乎沒有一個(gè)人有這樣的勇氣。相反，彈琴、素描和表演等等我們摯愛的興趣，卻成為了我們社交和生理需求的公敵。(譯者注：美國大學(xué)生常常說，學(xué)習(xí)、睡覺、和社交只能選兩樣 )同時(shí)，哥大著名的核心課程里那些原本倍加鼓舞人心的書籍和閱讀，早被Sparknotes之類的名著簡(jiǎn)介取代——在這個(gè)“快餐時(shí)代”，我們都忘了選課、加社團(tuán)和找實(shí)習(xí)的初衷到底是什么。

如果這樣的話，我不知道究竟是我們?cè)诶酶鐐惐葋喆髮W(xué)絕好的教育資源，還是被資源所利用?更加可惜的是，當(dāng)自己的興趣都變成了淺嘗輒止、自我安慰的過場(chǎng)游戲，我們不但這樣為了結(jié)果忽視了過程，也在逐漸地遠(yuǎn)離自己的理想生活。當(dāng)我們不斷安慰自己，只有兩頁密密麻麻、成就無數(shù)的簡(jiǎn)歷才可以找到我們理想工作的時(shí)候，我們常常忘記了那些多余的、讓我們過度工作以至于焦慮的工作，相比于讓我們進(jìn)入理想的研究生學(xué)院，更多時(shí)候只是徒增皺紋白發(fā)。所以，我給那些想給“輕松的課程量”加課的同學(xué)，和那些想在金融業(yè)找到一個(gè)暑期實(shí)習(xí)的學(xué)弟學(xué)妹的建議是：如果這是你真正熱愛的，去做吧!——但是請(qǐng)記住，在你回答之前好好思考一下真正的熱愛意味著什么。

不如，讓我們的目標(biāo)簡(jiǎn)單些，再簡(jiǎn)單些。讓大學(xué)成為一個(gè)我們真正感到快樂并享受的時(shí)光，然后去探索我們想成為一個(gè)怎樣的人。人生太過短暫，我們不可以為了所謂的“最終的理想生活”不斷推遲個(gè)人當(dāng)下的幸福。至少有一個(gè)學(xué)期，我們應(yīng)該嘗試一下大學(xué)生活的另一面：懂得舍棄，簡(jiǎn)化一些課程和活動(dòng)，留些時(shí)間去真正地了解自己，認(rèn)識(shí)些之前永遠(yuǎn)沒時(shí)間結(jié)交的有趣朋友，去體味什么才真正地滋養(yǎng)、而不是榨干我們。只有真正地放松，才能讓我們體會(huì)到，也許我們更喜歡通過和同齡人聊他們所熱忱地事物而自我成長(zhǎng)。

那些持有不同意見的人也許會(huì)說，健康、適度地壓力對(duì)于激勵(lì)我們實(shí)現(xiàn)我們地潛能是有必要的。盡管我很同意這樣的觀點(diǎn)，在哥大這樣過度用功的大環(huán)境，我們已經(jīng)談不上真正的健康了，更不用提很多時(shí)間我們眼中所謂的實(shí)現(xiàn)潛能是和成為一個(gè)高效的賺錢機(jī)器化等號(hào)的。來看一下麻省理工大學(xué)的學(xué)制吧(盡管它們瘋狂學(xué)習(xí)的程度也不是那么健康的)，它們正常的課程量是4-4.5門課。在達(dá)特茅斯，為了限制學(xué)生過度選課，如果每學(xué)期上四門課、連上了一年(相當(dāng)于在哥大兩個(gè)學(xué)期都上了六門課，即選課極限)，學(xué)生要繳更多的學(xué)費(fèi)。如果你覺得這個(gè)很可笑，哈佛日?qǐng)?bào)里曾有一篇文章，里面把20個(gè)上6門或者6門以上功課的學(xué)生描述成瘋狂的受虐狂。

如果你在嘲笑哈佛的學(xué)生，那么你沒有體悟這些規(guī)定背后的意義。

到最后，少，反而是多。我們應(yīng)該利用大學(xué)地寶貴時(shí)光去追求自己地興趣，去結(jié)識(shí)朋友，參加有益的活動(dòng)，而不是僅是在Facebook(美國的人人網(wǎng))這種社交平臺(tái)上看到這樣的新鮮事。到最后，絕沒有一個(gè)人，哪怕是未來雇主，會(huì)因?yàn)槲覀冞x擇發(fā)展自己、而不是完成第二學(xué)位而覺得我們不夠優(yōu)秀。退掉一門課吧：生活會(huì)頓時(shí)美好!

英文原文：

As I reflect on the first week of my last semester at Columbia, I am filled with elation from the great times spent with friends, whether it be eating four-hour dinners and wandering the campus aimlessly, or goofing off at the Winter Jam in Central Park and dancing till 7 a.m. at the CU Dance Marathon.

But as I continue reflecting, a wave of gloom overcomes me when I realize that the pervading spontaneity and optimism throughout the campus may not last. In a matter of days, we will fall behind on readings and problem sets, our dinners will become increasingly rooted only in their function of sustenance, and the pallor of stress will creep across our faces.

The problem is that for many of us, this anxiety is all we know. We have likely been habituated since high school or earlier to biting off more than we can comfortably chew. And even if ambition was not always in our DNA, it certainly was spliced in as we faced the dual insecurities that accompanied our acceptance letters: living up to societal expectations for our exceptional aptitudes and discovering that such exceptionality is mediocrity at our new home.

Given these forces, it should be no surprise that they coalesced to pressure us into taking on more responsibilities than we want and to accordingly compete to be the most physically and mentally unwell students we could be. When I was tabling for the Student Wellness Project this week, students filled out Post-its saying they would sleep, pleasure-read, cook, go downtown, go to office hours, work out, and chill with friends if they gained the time that came with dropping a class, yet few were inspired to carry through with doing so. Instead, we all watch as beloved pastimes like playing piano, sketching, and acting become enemies to our social and physiological needs. All the while, inspiring course readings get SparkNoted as we do whatever we can to get a good grade, often forgetting why we signed up for classes, clubs, internships, and more in the first place.

In this way, we are making time for the opportunities at Columbia to take advantage of us, rather than the other way around. Even more ironically, though, is that as we turn real interests into superficial ones, we not only get wrapped up in living for ends rather than means, but we also sabotage ourselves from achieving our ends anyway. By giving into the pressure and belief that we need two-page résumés full of “accomplishments” in order to land our “dream jobs,” we often do not realize that these superfluous, unfulfilling, and overwhelming commitments do more to create wrinkles and gray hairs than they do to get us into grad school. Therefore, my response to the friend who wants to add another course to her “light” course load is the same as to the one pursuing a summer internship in finance: if that’s what you love, go for it—but be sure to remember what it means to love something before you answer.

Instead, we should keep our goals simpler. Use college to make ourselves happy and explore who we want to be as people. Fulfillment and personal development should not be deferred when considering our short existences. Therefore, we should all spend at least one semester experiencing another side of college, minimally filling our schedules with activities in order to explore our personalities, meet new people, and discover what truly sustains rather than drains us. Only after relaxing can we know if we prefer educating ourselves simply through talking with peers about their passions.

Dissenters may still say that a healthy level of stress is necessary to motivate us to reach our potential. And while I agree, I think we at Columbia have particularly lost all perspective on what’s healthy, not to mention that we often equate reaching our potential with becoming money-generating robots. Just look at our (likely still unhealthy) peer schools to see what I mean. A normal credit load at MIT is four to 4.5 courses. At Dartmouth, students face additional fees if they take four classes for more than 3 trimesters (the equivalent of taking six classes for more than two semesters). And if you want a good laugh, there’s an article in the Harvard Crimson where the 20 undergraduates taking six or more classes are portrayed as deranged masochists.

If it’s the Harvard students you’re laughing at, you’re missing the point.

Ultimately, less can be more. We can use college to pursue hobbies, socialize, and attend the campus events that we currently only notice when clearing our Facebook notifications. All the while, no one—including employers—will think any less of us for choosing to develop ourselves rather than our second major. Drop a class: It’s refreshing.

美國留學(xué)：www.0138.net.cn